Laos issued this coin during a period of cautious economic liberalization following the government's 1986 "New Economic Mechanism" — a shift away from rigid central planning that gradually reopened the country to foreign investment and market activity. Commemorative coinage of this type was largely aimed at international collectors rather than domestic circulation; the Lao kip's purchasing power made coins of this denomination essentially symbolic at home.
The Indochinese tiger population had already collapsed dramatically by 1991, which lends the subject an inadvertent documentary quality.
Laos issued this coin during a period of cautious economic liberalization following the government's 1986 "New Economic Mechanism" — a shift away from rigid central planning that gradually reopened the country to foreign investment and market activity. Commemorative coinage of this type was largely aimed at international collectors rather than domestic circulation; the Lao kip's purchasing power made coins of this denomination essentially symbolic at home.
The Indochinese tiger population had already collapsed dramatically by 1991, which lends the subject an inadvertent documentary quality.